The Man I Married *** (1940, Joan Bennett, Francis Lederer, Lloyd Nolan, Anna Sten, Otto Kruger, Maria Ouspenskaya, Ludwig Stossel, Johnny Russell) – Classic Movie Review 12,439

The historically fascinating 1940 wartime propaganda film The Man I Married is also known by the more explicit and sensationalistic title as I Married a Nazi. It stars Joan Bennett, Francis Lederer, Lloyd Nolan and Anna Sten.

Director Irving Pichel’s 1940 20th Century Fox black and white wartime propaganda film The Man I Married is also known by the more explicit and sensationalistic title as I Married a Nazi. It is written by Oliver H P Garrett based on a short story by Oscar Schisgall.

It stars Joan Bennett, Francis Lederer, Lloyd Nolan, and Anna Sten, along with Otto Kruger Maria Ouspenskaya, Ludwig Stossel, and Johnny Russell.

During a European holiday, German-American man Eric Hoffman (Francis Lederer) is seduced by Nazi propaganda, much to the shock of his all-American wife, art critic Carol Cabbott (Joan Bennett), after their marriage in 1938. Bennett wants to get her seven-year-old son Ricky (Johnny Russell) home to the United States, and her father-in-law Heinrich Hoffman (Otto Kruger), who was married to a Jewish woman, helps her.

The Man I Married is a bit heavy on the propaganda itself, but it is still a stirring, neatly handled and effective wartime warning, with a gripping script and strong acting. And it is very interesting historically.

The cast are Joan Bennett as Carol Hoffman, Francis Lederer as Eric Hoffman, Lloyd Nolan as Kenneth Delane, Anna Sten as Frieda, Otto Kruger as Heinrich Hoffman, Maria Ouspenskaya as Frau Gerhardt, Ludwig Stossel as Dr Hugo Gerhardt, Johnny Russell as Ricky, Lionel Royce as Herr Deckhart, Fredrik Vogeding as Traveller, Ernst Deutsch as Otto, Egon Brecher as a Czech, William Kaufman as Conductor, and Frank Reicher as Friehof.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,439

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